General Floor Advice? What is your thought

[saintsreturn]

Hey all,

I am about to tear down my tank and move in another. I currently have carpet in place and we have talked about putting down wood or tile floors. This is the issue.

The current carpet runs directly to my hardwood in the entrance. I would like to put a new hardwood down in this room in between the tank swap, but then i would have hardwood running to a different hardwood. I do not have the ability to do the tile entry i want at this time.

I have thought about doing a T&G hardwood later, and cutting the carpet out from around the tank. Then replace the 2 ft of wood to cover the hole when i sell the house in a few yrs.

Wife wants wood now... our budget dictates we need to wait.... But i am NOT moving this tank later to accommodate wood floors later.

Thoughts? Here is the picture from before we moved in.

 

[DaveK]

You need to be very careful of the type of woof flooring you select around an aquarium. May sure it can stand being soaked badly with out damage.

I'd say that if you were planning on selling the place in a few years, don't do anything with the floors, since you'll never get back your investment in that.

Once you put a major tank in it's location, it's very difficult to move it some place else, so consider carefully. Maybe your best option is to have the existing carpet cleaned just before you install the new tank.

 

[saintsreturn]

Yeah i am leaning towards a good carpet cleaning. I know if i do the "pet proof" hardwood, my wife will want a carpet for under our seating area.. more money LOL.

I am going to fight for the carpet to stay, but if i lose, i am thinking i will put wood down under the new tank and then do the rest of the room as i move stuff out. I found some waterproof engineered stuff that would cost me about 600$ for the whole room (installed), i just cant get over the transition area...

Just nervous to keep carpet as i know water spills on that and its harder to keep clean once that happens.

 

[Oxylebius]

I've had fish tanks on hardwood in three different homes. One of those homes had hardwood that dated back to early when the house was built or around that time (~1890). Water can always be an issue. My current tank is on oak (stained darker) and on the second floor of the house, so both water and weight were factors I was grappling with before setting up the tank. Do you tend to have water over flow issues with your current tank? I ask b/c the tank I had back in the 90s would have a LOT of water issues (earthquakes spilling water, power outages spilling overflow water, and of course the old wet/dry system with its splashing of water and salt creep everywhere). The tank I have now (luckily, knock on wood, hope to not jinx myself) hasn't had water issues or salt creep issues either. A little RODI on the hardwood when replacing ATO now and then, but nothing big. Knowing your tank (or yourself) would help to answer if you anticipate having water issues and thus if hardwood is a good idea or not. If the budget dictates that now is not a good time and if as DaveK said you wouldn't get that investment back, perhaps you already have your answer.

 

[Pat24601]

We have hardwood throughout our house. My wife hates carpet and the first thing we did when we moved in was take out all of the carpet and put in hardwood.

So, all of my tanks are always on hardwood. I've had no real problems. I get spills, sure. But, I dry them up quickly and the hardwood doesn't have any issues.

Don't get me started about my 4 year boys and their friends riding their plasma cars on them, though. That's a whole different story...

 

[saintsreturn]

If the budget dictates that now is not a good time and if as DaveK said you wouldn't get that investment back, perhaps you already have your answer.

Loved everything about your post. (and the others on here )

Ok so to answer your question (knock on wood), the only issue i have is when i refill my ATO reservoir and the occasional (un-measurable) movement of stuff when cleaning. Like, pulling out the scrapper kind of negligible.

My question really is more about the floor and the seams to the existing hardwood more than anything else. My wife hates carpet and i agreed a while back to change it out. Makes sense to do this while i have the tanks out of the room... but here goes the conversation:

1) yay i love this selection of pet proof wood (add 500$)
2) Man the couch doesnt fit as good as i hoped, lets do two viewing chairs (add $600)
3) Wow babe, i love the wall colors against the new tank and how this floor really looks good and is not that carpet anymore. Just one thing, the floor is cold and the room echos; lets go get a rug to cover the floor you just bought and put in. (add... lets call it $300)

See how quickly the free tank upgrade adds up hahaha.

But the real struggle for me is the woods transition to the existing wood. I have never seen two hardwoods (real or fake) link up together without a carpet or tile section in between. That is where i am curious about the groups input.

 

[saintsreturn]

We have hardwood throughout our house. My wife hates carpet and the first thing we did when we moved in was take out all of the carpet and put in hardwood.

So, all of my tanks are always on hardwood. I've had no real problems. I get spills, sure. But, I dry them up quickly and the hardwood doesn't have any issues.

Don't get me started about my 4 year boys and their friends riding their plasma cars on them, though. That's a whole different story...

My thoughts exactly. And i love the last part! I love the look of hardwood but prefer tile. Issue here in this hotbox is the shifting of the houses. Makes tile a risky investment. But with my bird dogs, hard wood takes a beating. And thats without kids!